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Watching the replay, Murphy is by far THE worst defender on the Canadian squad. He's like Plante/Teubert for OKC in the AHL, always a "wtf do I do with the puck?" kind. If it weren't for the fact that Spott is is CHL coach, he wouldn't even get a second look

Other than the block, which everyone seems to hold in high regard, he was pretty invisible. In fact, visible for making mistakes.

Not his best game.

Time to trade him? God no.

Oh I totally agree with you.

However just a little while ago he was tearing up the khl against men and people were giddy. Then he goes to a new team with a completely different system and struggles a bit to get chemistry and suddenly people are worried about him? This is not a cause for panic.

FTR, i never said that he sucked, i said that he was underwhelming.
I expect him to be better regardless of the system that the Russian coach implemented.
Yakupov needs to learn how to play better when the game isn't wide open or he will never reach his potential in the NHL which has become a tight checking league.

I think everyone agrees that he should be better. I'll bet he agrees as well. But his game is not suited to this Russian team's style of play. This is not the attacking puck control teams we were use to many years ago. They play a lot more like Phoenix. Defense first, rely on your goalie and hope that you can get the other team to make a mistake or two. One man rushes are their method of attack. But unlike Phoenix they are not a particularly good cycle team so they don't even really put that much pressure on when the do gain the zone.

This is not intended as an excuse in the sense that it does show his game has some holes. But it can explain a fair bit of why I believe you can't read too much into this. Let's wait and see how he does playing with a kid like RNH rather than Alexander Khokhlachyov, who he has had 0 chemistry with.

While I understand that most people have not seen a lot of Yakupov, I must say it surprises me to hear all the "selfish player stuff". I watched him a lot in Sarnia the year before his draft year. We know he is a very under rated passer, but what I took away from watching him was that he was as likely to celebrate a team mates goal as he was one of his own.

Watching the replay, Murphy is by far THE worst defender on the Canadian squad. He's like Plante/Teubert for OKC in the AHL, always a "wtf do I do with the puck?" kind. If it weren't for the fact that Spott is is CHL coach, he wouldn't even get a second look

Agreed. I've never understood what people saw in him. To me, he seems like a poor mans Marc-Andre Bergeron

Agreed. I've never understood what people saw in him. To me, he seems like a poor mans Marc-Andre Bergeron

Murphy has not been able to put it together this year. But if you watched Kitchener in the playoffs last year you would have seen the version that is capable of being a dominat player. He played solid defense, was incredible offensively and was on the ice for 30+ minutes a game.

Watching the replay, Murphy is by far THE worst defender on the Canadian squad. He's like Plante/Teubert for OKC in the AHL, always a "wtf do I do with the puck?" kind. If it weren't for the fact that Spott is is CHL coach, he wouldn't even get a second look

If Canada fails at this WJC, it'll be on Spott. Lipon and Murphy were horrible selections. Absolutely horrible.

Should have gone with Dumba and Corrado.

It's a good thing Harrington and Ouellet (damn you Red Wings for yet another solid pick) are playing so well right now.

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Murphy has not been able to put it together this year. But if you watched Kitchener in the playoffs last year you would have seen the version that is capable of being a dominat player. He played solid defense, was incredible offensively and was on the ice for 30+ minutes a game.

This version seems to not have a clue what to do with the puck.

Sounds kind of like Angelo Esposito of defence then

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cloned

If Canada fails at this WJC, it'll be on Spott. Lipon and Murphy were horrible selections. Absolutely horrible.

Should have gone with Dumba and Corrado.

It's a good thing Harrington and Ouellet (damn you Red Wings for yet another solid pick) are playing so well right now.

Lipon is/was a tough one because he is similar to Tanner Pearson of last year-near tops in offense in their respective leagues after being overlooked in their drafts. I can see why he was chosen.

If Canada fails at this WJC, it'll be on Spott. Lipon and Murphy were horrible selections. Absolutely horrible.

Should have gone with Dumba and Corrado.

It's a good thing Harrington and Ouellet (damn you Red Wings for yet another solid pick) are playing so well right now.

Corrado or Dumba would definitely have been better selection than Murphy.

It's definitely on Spott if we fail, not only the players selection, but also how he created a culture of lack of discipline.

From TSN.ca: "There was a lot of frustration, a lot of questions on our bench as to what is acceptable and what isn't," said Team Canada head coach Steve Spott.

Why couldn't the head coach go tell his players, especially after the Boone Jenner's hit, that late hit and head shot are strictly off limits? Why is Spott saying something like that about not sure what acceptable and what isn't? When the coach lay the blames on the officiating, then these young players ain't gonna get the message that you just cannot try to hit late or hit the head. What part of Lipon's hit was acceptable? It was contact to the head and it was very late. If Morgan Rielly get drilled like that in the head, are you gonna complain that the official giving you a 5min PP and kicking the offender out of the game!?

We have enough offensive skill and physical strength(to separate puck from body) to win. Why are we running around trying to deliver devastating hit and keep crossing the line on trying to injure the players on other team?

Lipon is/was a tough one because he is similar to Tanner Pearson of last year-near tops in offense in their respective leagues after being overlooked in their drafts. I can see why he was chosen.

Murphy is just epic fail-all because Spott has a soft spot [] for him

Not sure how often you have seen Murphy play. I've probably seen him play 100 times, maybe more. He is a much better hockey player than you give him credit for. He is not there just because of Spott though it certainly did not hurt. He has been one of the best offensive defenseman in junior hockey over the last 3 years. His defensive game has been under rated as well. That said, this is the worst I have seen him play. He really looks like he is lost out there and for a guy with his hockey sense and his on-ice vision that is simply not acceptable.

The diving today was embarrassing. Back to back embellishments lead to back to back goals. They didn't need to resort to that style of play to win.

...and I realize Scheifele was taking a beating out there but he dove twice. He then had the nerve to chase the ref around asking why there wasn't a penalty. I hate seeing that kind of crap.

At least Huberdeau isn't flopping around like he did last year at the WJC and in the Memorial Cup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cawz

Yeah, I thought that as well. Didnt seem very... Canadiany.

It's especially bad when our head coach have been blaming the officiating and IIHF for Jenner's suspension and the 2 game misconducts today.

That creates the wrong culture for the players leading them to believe their over aggressiveness on head shots and late hits are okay, and everything is IIHF and the refs faults. But then when we're diving, it's acceptable!?

I had to record the game because I'm getting to old to hanging out watching tv at that hour, but I gatta say the thing that concerns me the most about this squad is Subban.

What a Horrible goaltender he is at this stage. I will give that he seems to be very athletic, and a good reactionary goalie. That said, he's way to frantic in net, allows to many re-bounds, doesn't seem to track/read higher shots well (on his knee's way to quickly). His save % seems to backup my concerns, and if he plays this way vs the better teams we'll get eaten alive. I've only seen Bingington the one game, but he looked like a much better goalie (slower, and had "fish" moments) but a much better goalie overall than Subban.

On a side note, Harrington and Ouellet are excellent so far on D, and as expected Nuge is carrying the play up front.
Scheifele looks excellent as well, and I've really liked Drouin, and Camara as well. As hyped as MacKINNON is I havn't
seen much of anything from him. Seth Jones has impressed me more (and I thought the opposite leading into this Tourney)

Has anyone else been really impressed by Nichuskin from the Russian team. He's huge, a good skater, and he has some decent offensive instincts. The first comparison I thought of after watching him play was Jordan Staal.

I would still love to see the Oilers find a way to draft Monahan but if they end up with a top 10 pick and Nichuskin projects as a centreman, he'd be an intriguing option.